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TUESDAY EDITION: An electric pickup the size of a Mini Cooper that has the bed capacity of a Toyota Tacoma and up to 350 miles of range?.....Special town meeting to vote on removing the ban on leaf blowers voted in last town meeting. The blowers won, thankfully, and there is no ban on leaf blowers in Rockport. The tree huggers want us to throw away the gas blowers and go  battery. I have a battery powered hedge clipper, I get about 1/2 hour running time before a battery charge or swap. I can't picture blowing my lawn with a battery unit with my 20 odd oak and beech trees....I wood need a dozen batteries each time I went out...

MONDAY EDITION: Sunny start to a beautiful day on the island. No time for radio this weekend because I painted the downstairs bathroom. I had patched the corner of one wall as it shrunk, shifted, whatever and looked shitty. No problem, I had the bathroom paint from years ago to match it. Upon touching up the corner, the paint was much darker and looked like shit. My wife suggested I change the color....so I had to paint the whole damn place....now the ceiling looks like it needs a coat and the crown molding is gloss white and looks shabby....I will be lucky if she whom must not be named wants the hardwood floor refinished! You know how thee things go...changing the vanity will be next and the light fixtures.....A small price to pay for all the freedom I have with ham radio gear!

GPS Broken? Try TV!

GPS and similar satellite navigation systems revolutionized how you keep track of where you are and what time it is. However, it isn’t without its problems. For one, it generally doesn’t work very well indoors or in certain geographic or weather scenarios. It can be spoofed. Presumably, a real or virtual attack could take the whole system down.

Addressing these problems is a new system called Broadcast Positioning System (BPS). It uses upgraded ATSC 3.0 digital TV transmitters to send exact time information from commercial broadcast stations. With one signal, you can tell what time it is within 100 ns 95% of the time. If you can hear four towers, you can not only tell the time, but also estimate your position within about 100 m.

The whole thing is new — we’ve read that there are only six transmitters currently sending such data. However, you can get a good overview from these slides from the National Association of Broadcasters. They point out that the system works well indoors and can work with GPS, help detect if GPS is wrong, and stand in for GPS if it were to go down suddenly.

If all digital TV stations adopt this, the presentation mentions that there would be 516 VHF stations operating with up to 10 kW over two widely separated bands. That adds to 1,526 UHF stations running between 100 kW to 1000 kW. So lots of power and very diverse in terms of frequencies. Coverage is spotty in some parts of the country, though. A large part of the western United States would lack visibility of the four stations required for a position fix. Of course, currently there are only five or six stations, so this is theoretical at this point.

The Real Story

If you read the slide deck, the real story is at the end in the backup slides. That shows the ATSC standard frame and how the preamble changes. The math is fairly standard stuff. You know where the stations are, you know what time they think they sent the signal, and you can estimate the range to each station. With three or four stations, you can get a good idea of where you must be based on the relative receive times.

The stations diversify their time sources, which helps guard against spoofing. For example, they may get time information from GPS, the network, a local atomic clock, and even neighboring stations, and use that to create an accurate local time that they send out with their signal.

Learn More

Most of the slides come from more detailed white papers you can find on the NAB website. A lot of the site is dedicated to explaining why you can’t live without GPS, but you can’t depend on it, either. The bottom right part of the page has the technical papers you’ll probably be more interested in.

GPS is an impressive system, but we know it needs some help. BPS reminded us a bit of LORAN.

 A seismic “donk” once rocked the world

On September 16, 2023, vibrations shook the entire world—and didn’t stop for nine days. The phenomenon started in East Greenland, but in the space of an hour, the strange hums had spread via the Earth’s crust and reached all the way to the other end of the world in Antarctica. Across the entire world, seismic monitoring stations, the ones we typically use to keep an eye on earthquakes and the like, started lighting up in response. But the noise that came through to the seismologists was nothing like the quick, car-crash-like noise that typically occurs with earthquakes. Instead, every 90 seconds, you’d hear this one “donk”—and it looked far from normal on a graph. 

The cause? A domino-fall that started with climate change. A melting glacier could no longer support a mountaintop in a fjord in East Greenland, and when that mountain top came crashing down it created a mega-tsunami about 650 feet tall. That tsunami then created a rocking seiche, or a standing wave, which was stuck going back and forth inside the narrow fjord. This back and forth motion made the whole planet shake. Luckily, there were no casualties in this remote corner of the world, but it’s another spooky reminder of how climate change can make for strangeness that sends the whole world buzzing. 

WEEKEND EDITION: We lost a local 26 year old fisherman yesterday 25 miles offshore while scalloping, a dredge cable snapped and killed him and injured another. It took the Coast Guard 2 hours to get him, slow response right out of Gloucester Harbor. It's a dangerous occupation, think of that the next time you eat seafood! .....

New Book Release: Salty Walt’s Portable Antenna Sketchbook

 

Amateur Radio Newsline Report

INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR RADIO UNION EYES RESTRUCTURING

PAUL/ANCHOR: Our top story is the International Amateur Radio Union which has just marked the 100th anniversary of its founding in Paris. It's using the occasion to look within - and to consider a way it can be restructured. The IARU's administrative council has released a consultation containing an overview and a number of proposals. Region 2, which covers North, Central and South America, will be hosting two informational meetings on the Zoom platform where Region 2 societies can discuss the document, ask questions or recommend changes.

One Zoom session will be conducted in SPANISH on Monday, May 5, 2025 at 2359 UTC moderated by
Ramón Santoyo XE1KK, former Region 2 president, Region 2 president, George Gorsline VE3YV, will moderate a session on Wednesday, May 7th in English at 2359 UTC.

Links to both meetings can be found in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org
You will also find a link to the homepage of IARU Region 2 where you can download the document in PDF format.

SPANISH LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82609444630?pwd=i1NEHoR1VqfylfbKFpGDUmfYD88mVS.1

ENGLISH LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86183716447?pwd=7fr0dZEkI2j9n64paDMKwy7Xc7DGnO.1

IARU REGION 2: https://www.iaru-r2.org/en/consultation-on-the-restructuring-of-iaru/

(IARU REGION 2)

**
HAMS ACTIVATE IRAN'S FIRST SPECIAL EVENT STATION FOR IARU

PAUL/ANCHOR: Meanwhile, as special event stations around the world marked the 100th year of the IARU, there was a new voice calling CQ this year for the occasion. We have those details from John Williams VK4JJW.

JOHN: If you happened to hear the callsign EP100IARU on April 18th and you got in the log, you are among the more than 500 contacts made by eight amateur radio operators in Iran using CW, SSB and FT8. This was the first activation in celebration of the IARU's anniversary organised by the Naghsh e Jahan Radio-Amateur Society. World Amateur Radio Day marks the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union in 1925 in Paris.

In Iran, the special event station coordinator, Amir, EP3ISF [E P THREE EYE S F], told Newsline that the group's participation marked a "significant milestone" for everyone. Meanwhile, be patient: He said that QSL cards are being mailed directly.

This is John Williams VK4JJW.

(AMIR EP3ISF)

**
PANCREATIC CANCER SPECIAL EVENT HONORS ITS FOUNDER'S MEMORY

PAUL/ANCHOR: In Pennsylvania, radio ops activating a special event callsign are feeling the absence of the ham with whom it all began. We hear more from Kevin Trotman, N5PRE.

KEVIN: This is the first year that special event station N3P is going on the air without Rich Ryba [pron: REE-BAH] WQ3Q. Rich conceived of the event three years ago to call attention to the work of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, or PanCAN, an organization that serves patients and families of patients suffering from pancreatic cancer.

Rich had lost his younger brother, Tom, to the disease years earlier and became a Silent Key from it himself last year. Bill Samek, W3BUW, said that he knew it was time for the Skyview Amateur Radio Society, the club Rich had belonged to, to fulfill the mission for him this year. Operators are putting N3P on the air on 25th, 26th and 27th of April, coordinated as always to the Purple Stride Walk benefit that takes place on Saturday, April 26th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - one of several such walk-a-thons around the nation.

Yes, there will be QSL cards but these are not typical QSOs. As Rich himself told Newsline in an interview in 2023: [quote] “People want to talk, want to share their experiences with their family. We told our operators to sit and listen. It doesn't matter how long the contact takes if it serves a purpose of helping." [Endquote]

This is Kevin Trotman, N5PRE.

(BILL SAMEK, W3BUW)

**
WRTC BIDDING DEADLINE FOR SPONSORED TEAMS IS APRIL 30TH

PAUL/ANCHOR: The World Radiosport Team Championship is one year away and yes, you too can qualify to compete - for a price. Jeremy Boot G4NJH explains how.

JEREMY: If you're interested in competing in the World Radiosport Team Championship in the UK in 2026, you have until the 30th of April to submit your sealed bid in US currency. Two sponsored team positions are available. The two highest bidders will be selected for WRTC2026 after an auction of two rounds. The minimum bid is 20,000 US dollars.

Sponsored teams have participated in previous WRTC events and differ from qualifying teams in that they purchase their place in the competition.WRTC organisers consider this arrangement provides a valuable contribution to the event's budget. All teams are bound by the same operational rules.

Bidders will be notified by the 6th of May as to their standing in the first round and will become eligible to submit their final bid no later than the 31st of May.

**
REGISTRATION OPENS FOR HAM RADIO BOOTCAMP

JIM/ANCHOR: An amateur radio society in New Hampshire has a message for radio amateurs regardless of whether they are Technician, General or Extra class: If you want to get on the air more, start by getting online -- especially on one particular day next month. Patrick Clark K8TAC explains.

PATRICK: On the 10th of May, the Nashua Area Radio Society is hosting its free Ham Bootcamp on the Zoom platform from 10 am to 6 pm Eastern Time. Demonstrations and tutorials will cover emergency communications, satellite operations, FT 8 and equipment for VHF/UHF operating.

Hams will also learn how to build a station so they can get on the air. In fact, one of the main purposes of the bootcamp is to help hams overcome many of the most common obstacles that keep them off the air - everything from how to select the right HT to participating in foxhunting or contesting.

**
HAM RADIO FRIEDRICHSHAFEN SELECTS "REMOTE" THEME

PAUL/ANCHOR: If you are planning to attend Ham Radio in Friedrichshafen this June, you'll be asked to consider some remote possibilities. In this case "remote" refers to "remote radio," which is the theme of the international amateur radio exhibition this year. Jeremy Boot G4NJH has those details.

JEREMY: The weekend of June 27th will be devoted to the usual in-person contacts between old friends, with plenty of workshops, seminars and new-product displays in the mix of activities. The motto for this year's exhibition in Germany, however, is all about NOT being there. The theme of "Remote Radio - Connecting the World" focuses on how radio operators are no longer required to be in the same place as their equipment in order to transmit successfully. This kind of remote operation has already been demonstrated in a number of high-profile DXpeditions using the Radio-in-a-Box. These stations are controlled remotely over the Internet, opening up more opportunities for those who wish to experiment and allowing DXpeditions to take place in environmentally sensitive areas where human presence is forbidden or restricted.

Last year's event attracted more than 11,300 attendees from 58 nations. For full details about the programme and accommodation for Europe's largest ham radio trade fair, see the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org
(HAM RADIO FRIEDRICHSHAFEN)

**

NOMINATE OUR NEXT YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR

PAUL/ANCHOR: Each year, the Amateur Radio Newsline Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award receives nominations of promising young hams who truly impress our judges. It is time once again to give them an opportunity at the recognition they deserve. Consider nominating an amateur radio operator 18 years of age or younger here in the continental United States. Consider someone who has talent, promise and a commitment to the spirit of ham radio. Find application forms on our website arnewsline.org under the "YHOTY" tab. We are accepting nominations through May 31st.

**
HAMS GO WITH THE FLOW FOR "CANOE CHALLENGE" FUNDRAISER

PAUL/ANCHOR: Hams in Pennsylvania will be on the riverfront following the progress of canoes for a special charity challenge, as we hear from Travis Lisk N3ILS.

TRAVIS: The Northbrook Canoe Challenge taking place on May 3rd on Pennsylvania’s Brandywine River is actually three challenges in one. The first challenge is to help support the Cerebral Palsy Association of Chester County. The second is for the boaters to enjoy navigating the at-times challenging 9.5 miles of waterway, taking special care around a dam that they encounter midway through the course.

The third challenge is the one that will be facing amateur radio operators from the Chester County ARES/RACES group - to help ensure everyone's safety. The hams have provided communications for this charitable event for 23 of its 47 years. Like oars guiding the canoes through the challenging waters, the radio operators are guided by a net control station as they check in with real-time reports throughout the two-hour challenge using a system of four linked UHF repeaters with simplex backup.

While the hams pass traffic from the shore, the Chester County Dive Team keeps closer watch from the water itself. Jim Harris, WA3NOA, the hams’ technical lead and coordinator, is in touch with the head of the dive team, who communicates with him and the divers using the county’s extra rugged handheld P25 radios.

Jim told Newsline that it's not over until the final canoe - piloted by someone from the canoe company itself - comes by. Then everyone can be certain that no one has been left behind. He said that canoeing is popular in the county -- and on May 3rd, canoeing to raise funds is certain to keep the local Cerebral Palsy Association buoyant too.

This is Travis Lisk N3ILS.

(JIM HARRIS, WA3NOA)

**
SOUTH AFRICAN HAMS FOSTER RADIO'S GROWTH IN SUB-SAHARA

JIM/ANCHOR: As it marks the completion of its first 100 years, the South African Radio League has set an ambitious goal for itself - one that takes its efforts beyond South Africa. We hear more from Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

JIM M: With age comes wisdom - or so it's said - so as it prepares to mark its centenary in May, the South African Radio League has decided that it would be an especially wise move to nurture amateur radio's growth throughout sub-Saharan Africa. SARL president Nico van Rensburg, ZS6QL, told the website TechCentral that amateur radio is almost nonexistent outside of Egypt and Nigeria in the northern part of the continent and Namibia and South Africa in the south.

He said [quote] : "You have this middle part of Africa where there is nothing, absolutely nothing.” [endquote]

Finding a foothold for amateur radio in less-developed parts of the continent will be an ambitious agenda and SARL acknowledges that this kind of expansion will need political and financial support. SARL's Chris Turner ZS6GM, who has been active in amateur radio instruction and mentoring, has already had success with efforts in Mozambique. In that nation, ham radio operators are seen as an asset, especially when floods or other natural disasters require emergency communications.

SARL has already kicked off its next 100 years with a Centenary Marathon QSO Party that began on the 1st of January and will continue through to the 31st of December. Special event callsigns will include ZS100SARL.

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(TECH CENTRAL CO, DX WORLD.NET)

**
ASTRONAUT ANNOUNCES FRAM2HAM SSTV CONTEST WINNERS

PAUL/ANCHOR: Congratulations to the three highest-scoring student teams in the Fram2Ham SSTV competition. We hear about the winners from Andy Morrison K9AWM.

ANDY: The Fram2Ham SSTV competition was all about the successful reception of a number of different SSTV images that astronauts sent from the SpaceX capsule in early April during the Fram2 mission. The transmissions were sent over 2-metres, puzzle-style, by astronaut Rabea Rogge, LB9NJ/KD3AID as the 3-day mission undertook the first human spaceflight to orbit the planet over the North and South poles. When pieced together, the images formed a complete picture.

First-place winner was the Team ARISStocats with students in Lithuania, Italy, Switzerland and here in the US, California and Pennsylvania. Second place was awarded to Team W1HLO-LA1K!, comprising students in Norway, Germany and, here in the US, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Finally, third-place winner was the team known as GuufyFram! ["GOOFY FRAM"] with students from France, Greece and, here in the US, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New York.

The astronaut said, in a statement: [quote] "Well done everyone – we loved to see that all the teams were very international. My hope is that some friendships have formed, the passion for technology has been kindled and that most of all everyone had fun." [endquote]

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(AMSAT-UK)

**
WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, the Guernsey Amateur Radio Society will operate special event station GU 8Ø LIB from the 9th through to the 11th of May to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Channel Islands at the end of World War II. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

The Radio Club Pierre Coulon, F5KMB, continues with its celebration of the centenary of the International Amateur Radio Union. Club members are activating four callsigns: TM100I [T M ONE HUNDRED EYE], TM100A, TM100R and TM100U. which will be on the air through to the 13th of July. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

David, MØYBC will be active as MDØYBC from the Isle of Man., IOTA number EU-116, from the 25th through to the 28th of April and again from the 1st through to the 4th of August. David plans to operate from eight POTA locations on the island. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

The Japan Amateur Radio League will has a special event station on the air until the 13th of October at the premises of the 2025 Expo in Osaka-city. Listen for the callsign 8K3EXPO. See QRZ.com for QSL details.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

**
KICKER: HAMS GO TO BAT FOR VANISHING BATS

PAUL/ANCHOR: For our final story, we look at bats -- flying mammals known for the biological sonar transmissions used for echolocation to help them navigate and find food. Well, meet some bats in northern New York State who recently began transmitting on VHF too - and meet the hams who are tuning in to copy them. Kent Peterson KCØDGY has that story.

KENT: Tricolored bats are tiny -- but the transmitters they are wearing so conservationists can track them, are even smaller.
Ashley Meyer from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is tracking the bats because of the appearance of an invasive fungal disease known as White Nose Syndrome. White Nose Syndrome has caused the bats' population to decline by 98 percent, making them candidates for the endangered species listing.

That's why some hams in the Adirondack [ADDA-RON-DACK] Mountains are going to bat - for the bats. The state sent out a request to ham clubs asking for help in tracking the bats' signals being transmitted in 1 kHz steps between 150 and 151 MHz. Ashley said the Champlain [SHAM- PLANE] Valley Amateur Radio Club responded. Club president Mark KD2RJP said that a dozen or so hams will be participating. Their job, according to Ashley, is to track where the bats spend the summer and record the distance they migrate.

Ashley said the bat tracking squad will also include agency staffers and bat specialists using ground telemetry. Ashley herself will be tracking bats from a plane during the night of the bats' release.

Everyone is motivated and excited but remember - since the bats aren't transmitting on the amateur frequencies, don't expect any QSL cards.

FRIDAY EDITION: Another day in paradise..

BUY A SHIPWRECK: Browse Facebook Marketplace and you’ll encounter an assortment of odd finds: vintage lamps, used socks, a car engulfed in flames. Dom Robinson found a 3,300-ton, 330ft long cargo ship that sank off the Cornish coast during World War I.

 And it was a bargain: only £300 ($400 USD)Robinson purchased the wreck of the SS Almond Branch from someone who bought the wreckage from the British government in the 1970s. He told BBC Radio Cornwall that the original owner hoped to uncover something of value, but found it to just be a “big pile of rusting iron.” That didn’t bother Robinson, who is an hobbyist diver and had already done a dive visit to the site before acquiring the sunken pile of rusty iron.  ARTICLE

W1AW Facility Closed to Visitors April 28-30 for Maintenance

Ham Bootcamp to Feature Virtual Demonstrations and Tutorials

Nashua Area Radio Society will be hosting Ham Bootcamp May 10th. The event is designed to provide demonstrations and tutorials to help new hams build a station and get on the air. Topics will include VHF equipment and activities, FT8, emergency communications, and operating via satellites.

Ham Bootcamp includes a series of demonstrations and tutorials designed to help newly licensed Technician, General, and Extra class license holders get on the air and use their amateur radio license. Bootcamp is also a great opportunity for prospective Hams who are interested in seeing what the hobby has to offer.

Ham Bootcamp takes place over Zoom on May 10th, 2025 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM Eastern Time. Register here. This is a free event. Additional details are available on QRZ.

THURSDAY EDITION: The lady below is manufacturing capacitors by the way....The club balloon went down in the Bermuda triangle over night never to be seen or heard again. this is the second balloon to bite the dust over the Bermuda area......

What part is she making?????

WEDNESDAY EDITION: Coffee and donut day at the weekly club gathering this morning.....Hamfesters help train Storm Spotters....

A Portable Electronics Workstation

You don’t see them as often as you used to, but it used to be common to see “electronics trainers” which were usually a collection of components and simple equipment combined with a breadboard, often in a little suitcase. We think [Pro Maker_101’s] portable electronics workstation is in the same kind of spirit, and it looks pretty nice.

The device uses a 3D printed case and a custom PC board. There are a number of components, although no breadboard. There is a breakout board for Raspberry Pi GPIO, though. So you could use the screw terminals to connect to an external breadboard. We were thinking you could almost mount one as a sort of lid so it would open up like a book with the breadboard on one side and the electronics on the other. Maybe version two?

One thing we never saw on the old units? An HDMI flat-screen display! We doubt you’d make one exactly like this, of course, but that’s part of the charm. You can mix and match exactly what you want and make the prototyping station of your dreams. Throw in a small portable soldering iron, a handheld scopemeter, and you can hack anywhere.

We’d love to see something like this that was modular. Beats what you could build in 1974.

Blog – Hackaday Read More

 

CAARA Prez launches balloon yesterday, its flying high at 40,000 feet
The straight line is the night time when the solar panels are not producing juice for the transmitter

TUESDAY EDITION: Track the balloon with u as it heads for Africa.....

Brandon's son holding the half inflated blloon, it will expand as it gets high above earth....he used hydrogen...

Transmitter and solar collector resting on carrying case.....

Keep Bears at Bay with the Crackle of 280,000 Volts

You might be better off to put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye....

Bears! Are they scared of massive arcs that rip through the air, making a lot of noise in the process? [Jay] from the Plasma Channel sure hopes so, because that’s how his bear deterrent works!

[Jay] calls it the Bear Blaster 5000. Right from the drop, this thing looks like some crazy weapon out of Halo. That’s because it throws huge arcs at 280,000 volts. The basic concept behind it is simple enough—a battery drives a circuit which generates (kinda) low voltage AC. This is fed to the two voltage multipliers which are set up with opposite polarity to create the greatest possible potential difference between the two electrodes they feed. The meaty combination is able to arc across electrodes spaced over four inches apart. It’s all wrapped up in a super-cool 3D printed housing that really shows off the voltage multiplier banks.

Given its resemblance to a stun gun, you might think the idea is to jab an attacking bear with it. But the reality is, if the bear is close enough that you could press this device against it, you’re already lunch. [Jay] explains that it’s more about scaring the animal off with the noise and light it produces. We’d certainly take a few steps back if we heard this thing fire off in the woods.

[Jay] does a great job of explaining how the whole setup works, as well as showing off its raw ability to spark. We’ve seen some great builds from [Jay] before, too, like this beefy custom flyback transformer.

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Marathon Monday: My friend Debbie Tupper from Rockport is running her 19th and last marathon today, go Deb!.....I wonder what possesses a guy to study this shit?.....A study published in 2022 revealed a tenuous but plausible link between picking your nose and increasing the risk of developing dementia.

Tracking the ISS Made Easy

If you made something blink, and now it’s time for you to make something move, something like a point-to-a-satellite tracker is a great idea. [Farid] made this moving arrow that always points at the ISS, and documented it nicely to boot.

And there’s a little bit of everything here, from orbital mechanics and fetching the two-line elements (TLE) from the web, to writing the code to translate that into the tabletop machine’s coordinate system. It looks like [Farid] hadn’t done much 3D CAD before, so he got a chance to stretch those muscles too. Finally, it served as an introduction to resource-constrained programming: “This was the first time I’ve had to think about the size of a compiled binary – the most frustrating part was figuring out that using a C++ stringstream was adding too much code to my binary.”

[Farid] is learning a lot here, and you might too. For instance, using pencil lead (graphite) as a lubricant on sliding 3D-printed parts is new to us, but makes sense. We’ll have to try that out.

And while this is a simple desktop tracker, with a lot more mechanical design, the same basics could be put to real use for pointing a receiver dish. Of course, who says you need fancy motors and computers to point a satellite dish anyway? If you work on your arm muscles a bit, you could become the satellite pointer.

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 FYI: The 10,000-year history of gum

Somewhere between 9,500 and 9,900 years ago, three Scandinavian teenagers were hanging out, chewing gum after a meal. Specifically, they were chewing pitch or tar made from the bark of birch trees. Many millennia removed, archaeologists analyzed the spit out wads and discovered what the teens had recently eaten (red fox, hazelnut, deer, and apple), as well as the state of their oral health (poor). The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports in  2024. It’s among the earliest known examples of chewing gum in the archaeological record, but it’s far from the only one. 

Humans  have been gnawing on rubbery bits of indigestible gunk for a long, long time. Gum chewing independently arose across different cultures and regions at different times, says Jennifer Mathews, an anthropologist at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. In Mexico, for instance, Mayans and later Aztecs chewed chicle, a substance derived from the milky latex of the tropical sapodilla tree. Chicle ultimately led to the creation and commodification of the modern chewing gum we know today, as described in Mathews’ 2009 book, Chicle: The Chewing Gum of the Americas, From the Ancient Maya to William Wrigley. 

Aztecs also chewed natural bitumen, a petroleum-based material similar to asphalt that often washes up on shorelines, sometimes on its own and sometimes mixed with chicle. It was a central enough part of Aztec culture that they wrote up rules for it. It was considered uncouth for anyone besides young children or elderly women to chew it publicly, says Mathews. Elsewhere, people chewed on gums derived from plants like mastic in ancient Greece–which became the root of the word mastication–terebinth resin in Central Asia, or spruce gum among Indigenous Americans. 

“They’re using what they have in their environment to fix a problem,” says Mathews. Clearly, as it showed up so many times in so many places, gum served a need. 

Why we chew

In the absence of toothpaste and dentists, people found their own ways to keep their mouths feeling as hygienic as possible. Chewing gum filled in some of those gaps and its primary purpose across cultures was to clean the teeth, freshen the breath, and boost oral health, Mathews explains. Mastic and chicle alike are commonly described as having pleasant, sweet, and piney or woodsy flavors– probably a preferable smell and taste to whatever bits of food might linger between the teeth after meals. Today, sugar free gum can offer some smile benefits, according to the American Dental Association (though overdo it and you could end up with a jaw disorder).

 

EASTER EDITION: We have a Tech-in-a- Day course today at the CAARA clubhoue, it looks like ten are signed up....

Inside a Fake WiFi Repeater

Over the years we have seen a lot of fake electronics, ranging from fake power saving devices that you plug into an outlet, to fake car ECU optimizers that you stick into the OBD port. These are all similar in that they fake functionality while happily lighting up a LED or two to indicate that they’re doing ‘something’. Less expected here was that we’d be seeing fake WiFi repeaters, but recently [Big Clive] got his hands on one and undertook the arduous task of reverse-engineering it.

The simple cardboard box which it comes in claims that it’s a 2.4 GHz unit that operates at 300 Mbps, which would be quite expected for the price. [Clive] obtained a real working WiFi repeater previously that did boast similar specifications and did indeed work. The dead giveaway that it is a fake are the clearly fake antennae, along with the fact that once you plug it in, no new WiFi network pops up or anything else.

Inside the case – which looks very similar to the genuine repeater – there is just a small PCB attached to the USB connector. On the PCB are a 20 Ohm resistor and a blue LED, which means that the LED is being completely overdriven as well and is likely to die quite rapidly. Considering that a WiFi repeater is supposed to require a setup procedure, it’s possible that these fake repeaters target an audience which does not quite understand what these devices are supposed to do, but they can also catch more informed buyers unaware who thought they were buying some of the cheap real ones. Caveat emptor, indeed.

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